Selling Your Home "By Owner"

There's More to Selling Your Home than
a "For Sale" Sign In Your Front Yard.

Even if a simple sign in your yard did
produce a buyer knocking on your door, how will you handle the
following questions:

How does your home compare to others
like it in the area?

How did you determine the value of this
property?

Who will draw up
the paperwork?

Why aren't you using a real estate
agent? Is there something wrong with the property?

Since you aren't using a real estate
agent, we can take their fee right off the top, right?

Other things to consider:

Your home will only be exposed to 3% of available buyers
without being in the MLS (multiple listing service) so be
prepared for this to take awhile.

Real estate offices carry errors and omissions insurance
that will protect the transaction if something goes wrong.
You can be sued for up to 7 years after closing.

Buyers will knock on your door at all hours.
Putting "appointment only" on your sign will not help.
Buyers think "if they want to sell, they'll show it now".

You will be opening your home to strangers which could
be a safety issue for you or your family.

You will have to be home in order to show it, limiting
your exposure.

Buyers will expect to get a deal from you

You will need to handle negotiations directly so if your
not a "tough cookie" this may not be for you.

You will need to cover all of your advertising expenses
out of pocket.

Who will help you when the transaction has problems?

Selling your home is one of the most
important financial transactions you will make in your life.
Don't take risks. Selling your home is nothing like selling a
car. Every home is different, and every homebuyer wants to
offer you as little as possible.

Almost all homes are sold using a real
estate agent. As top real estate professionals, it is our job
to help you negotiate with all those buyers who want something
for nothing. Not to mention preparing your home for sale,
marketing it locally in Tampa and even nationally, and guiding
you through the complex paperwork and pitfalls of escrow and
closing. Make sure you are really ready to handle all of that
before pounding that sign into your front yard. Errors can be
extremely costly.

Remember: Buyers want to offer you as close
to nothing as possible! While that "For Sale By Owner" sign
might sound like a good idea, it usually means a different
thing to buyers: "Try to steal this one."

If you must sell your own home, at least
let us give you a sense of its true market value. Tell us a
bit about your home, and we'll do a quick Comparative Market
Analysis and let you know what we feel it is worth. We'll also
describe, as experienced, top Tampa real estate agents, how we
would market your property. This is free, with no strings
attached.